Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg at:

20 pound whole pork shoulder

This pork shoulder is going to be served tomorrow at 2PM it will be going on the Egg at 6 PM. I will be starting with a temperature of 215 controlled by my Stoker, later I will bump the temperatures up to finish the cooking. I use Mesquite lump charcoal plus I add sticks of Almond wood and Hickory chips.....Love my Stoker

Comments

Hmmmm, me thinks at 215 you are really cutting it too close. A 20 pounder is a large chunk of piggy. I know you said you will kick the temp up, but you didn't say when nor to what, nor how often. Personally I would start out higher. On top of that if you plan to serve @ 2:00 that bad boy is going to need some time to rest which cuts your cooking time down even more. LOL - please realize this suggestion is coming from me who always prefers to arrive early and then wait vs. getting somewhere late!

Thanks for the comment.....I have cooked many of these shoulders over the years and with the Egg, and my Stoker, this is my go to method.....when I used to do long cooks on my side burner without a Stoker to monitor the pit and meat temps, I did use a different method.....without the Stoker and Egg, I would not be doing long slow cooks......I did that for years on my side burner and I don't find it fun checking the temp and pit all night

Hotch...... This is going to be pulled pork. I like buying the whole shoulder rather than pork butts because mixing the two parts of the meat together in my opinion, much better flavor.
I rub the meat, never inject, and it always comes out moist and full of flavor. I do not sauce, I let the people put on a sauce of their choice. I provide a vinegar-based sauce and a sweet sauce and a special coleslaw for the sandwich

Looks great John. I want to try a whole shoulder one day. I haven't been able to find one. I did smoke a butt and picnic once and it was really good; but it would just be cool to throw on one 20 lb hunk of meat!

Which came first the chicken or the egg? I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg.

John, love your whole shoulder cook which you post time to time. An observation and questions ...Love the way you leave the rind and fat on the bottom, come to think of it, it kind of acts like lo n slo fry pan IMO! You have 20 hours from start to serve, what temp do you bump up the Stoker to and when? how much time does it allow for the dry cooler? Thanks and looking forward to more pix.

Canugghead....I always start my Shoulders, Butts and Briskets at 215 degrees and bump up the temp as needed...I feel the longer I can keep a low temp, the better....This Shoulder was started at 215 and after about 6 hours, bumped up to 225. Another 5 hours bumped to 250. Having the Stoker to monitor the meat temp, it allows me to adjust the pit temp as needed and finish on time. If I was going to cook at one temp setting, it would be 225. This Shoulder will have a minimum rest time of 2 hours. I am now bumping the temp to 275 to finish

Good job, working on manual I struggle to hold that low a temperature, just about to finish off some of yesterdays left over pulled pork in some bean soup whilst I wait for the chicken that's sat outside on the BGE. being the UK yes it is raining!

In addition o being able to hold a very low temp, I am also able to load a large amount of raw wood to my Mesquite charcoal. Without the Stoker controlling the incoming air, a draft would be created catching all the raw wood on fire. I like using the raw wood because it gives me the real BBQ flavor I am looking for